Organic Gardening

What Is Organic Gardening?

Organic Gardening Definition: Organic gardening is the practice of growing vegetables, herbs, fruits, flowers, trees, shrubs, ornamentals, ground covers and other garden plants naturally, without the use of chemicals, sewage sludge, genetic modification and other such techniques that are legally permissible for farmers in the USA.

Reasons to Begin Organic Gardening

There are many compelling reasons to take up organic gardening:

If you want to eat organic but you can’t afford it, organic gardening offers you a much more affordable solution than buying your organic food at Whole Foods or other health food stores. It can even be more cost effective than buying organic produce at the big box stores like Walmart or Costco.

Your organically grown garden produce will taste much better than the produce you buy at a grocery store, big box store or health food store. Have you ever tasted a freshly-picked homegrown tomato? Homegrown tomatoes are infinitely superior to store bought tomatoes. There’s no contest! Plus most other home grown fruits and veggies taste better as well — including citrus fruits, avocados, plums, apricots, green beans and many others.

You can harvest your homegrown organic produce at the peak of freshness. This means that you not only enjoy superior flavor, but you also maximize the nutritional value you get from the food.

If you grow your own organic garden, you’ll be able to enjoy a much more diverse selection of produce than you would have access to if you shop at the big box stores, grocery stores or health food stores. You can choose to grow varieties of fruits and vegetables that are simply not available in stores. Want to have access to fresh gooseberries, mulberries or elderberries? Grow your own!

Growing your own organic garden gives you more control over every aspect of your food’s production. You get to control all the inputs, and you’ll have a much better understanding of what is going into your food.

You also benefit from increased food security. You’ll be much less affected by events that empty local store shelves such as hurricanes and dock worker strikes.

Your garden has the potential to become a fulfilling pastime and a source of pride.

You’ll enjoy all the advantages of eating local; growing your food on your own property is about as local as you can get. Organic gardening at home is an earth-friendly practice. Much of the organic food you get at stores like Walmart, Costco or Trader Joes travels long distances to reach you. It might come from China, Mexico or Canada. If environmental concerns are part of your motivation for wanting to eat organic, you simply can’t ignore the logistical disadvantages of imported organic produce.

You’ll get more in tune with nature as you plant, monitor the weather, learn about the ecosystem in your garden, care for your plants and gather your harvests.